TOPIC: Crickets Chirping* * *

Ho - Hum... sleepy forum....

Yea for sure Whitjr,
Hey here's a thought I had the other day. The classifications for ginseng are:
Wild
Wild Simulated
Woods Grown or Woods Cultivated
Field grown

We all know Wild brings the most and then Wild Simulated then Woods Grown then Field grown the least in $$$.

If one were to plant Wild Simulated and take care of it like those do that plant Woods Grown/Woods Cultivated but without tilling the soil what is that called? You could treat the Wild Simulated with a maintenance program and increase your overall yield over the years while still having a nice wild looking root that is worth more money than a Woods Grown/Woods Cultivated.

I think some on here that are growing ginseng are doing this. Kind of like a hybrid Wild Simulated Woods Grown I guess.

Latt

Well,
I don't know about other crickets, but this old boy is getting some new seeds in the grounds. Right at the moment, I'm having to stay at lower elevations because of snow on the mountains. Maybe tomorrow or the next day it will get warm enough to get on up higher to some great spots that I found this Fall. Someone out in the future will get some benefit from these plantings and that will be worth the time and money that I have put into it. I'm sure that many of the plants that I dug this Fall were there because someone took the time to think ahead into the future some years back. I hope some more of you have some good planting stories.
Hugh

Latt,
As you know, that's the game plan on my end. After this year's planting I will have somewhere over ninety pounds I have planted that I am caring for in that manner. At first, harvest time seems like a long way off when you start planting but Im half way there now...Time flies my friends.

Hugh,
I haven't started on mine yet, still have some clearing to do and my other work will keep me busy till the New Year. How much are you planting this time?

The quiet of this forum with only us here reminds me of old times. All we need now is for Chieftain,Classicfur and Maya to chime in.

Hillhopper

Hill,
I had a big long response all typed out going back many years and covering all aspects, but when I hit \"submit\" it went off to another planet. I'll try a shorter one and let some others have a shot at it.
I remember what it was like on here when I first started following posts on this board and I also realize how much knowledge I have accumulated from being on here for about 5 years. Sometimes I wonder about the ones who were so far ahead of me and how they are doing with 12- 15 year old patches these days. Each year now I see my self getting closer and closer to the prize.
I have planted about 20 pounds now in the mountains at a much wider spacing than many are planting their patches and this Spring should show a lot of 3 Prongers coming on. I can remember thinking a few years ago that I would never get any 4 Prongers, but now they are there in numbers at home. This Winter I will probably not plant any more than 2 pounds and I guess that I will stay at that number each year because I should get a fair amount of my own seed from this point on. I wish you luck as you get started on this latest round and I look forward to lots of reports.
Hugh

Whitjr,
Yep crickets are chirping i hear them, but not for long... Finally some very good things are about to happen with our favorite plant and maybe just maybe, we will get to have some input with some of the laws that are detrimental to the wild-simulated grower. I can't wait till springtime.
Oh Latt, another classification is in the making...micropropagated-wild-simulated....oh yeah its on its way. we'll see if it works.

Hugh,
I shadowed this forum for a good year and a half before joining. At that time, I was as green as a fresh picked seed with many questions and no answers. Actually, here is my first post

I was wondering if anyone had any stats on their own Ginseng growing venture. I have read the book we all know of but was curious of personal experiences from others as well; seed amounts planted, surface area planted, time till harvest and profits.

Several years later; I now have many answers to questions I didn't know to ask and no certain answers to the questions I did!

K_duce,
I have seen some literature on micropropagation. I cant see it's benefit to a grower but there may be one. No way it could replace anything but cultivated unless planted out in the wild individually(TIME CONSUMING), and I can't see that being as economical as seed in cultivated growing even if it could be mechanized. Im sure a Chinese elder wouldn't think the same of a blazing white,slick root grown in petri dish as they would an earth grown plant. Just my thoughts...

Hillhopper

Wow, some of us have woken up for the various slumbers.... nice to see folks back!

Like you guys, I have been busy planting stuff. and manicuring my patches. And reducing the deer herd around my patches.

Hill- 90 lb.s in the ground? Wow. that dwarfs my figure of 20 lb.s inground....

I woke up there before thanksgiving to a 16 degree outside temp... didn't hear any crickets at all that morning!

Hillhopper,

Anything to do with ginseng is time consuming,whats a few more hours in the woods bent over digging...theres no better place to be. I can see the benefit of getting disease free planting stock that has been started from wild or even wild-simulated.. and the benefit of getting planting stock that came from a plant with proven high gensinocide levels. Almost everyone of us who plants and buys seed or rootlets never know what product we are going to get in the box that shows up from the supplier. I see the benefit of having something to plant even if the crop seed production is low. I don't see it as a replacement for ginseng seed, but i do see it as an oppurtunity to advance and provide another option for ginseng growers to explore.

I see your point and agree somewhat but, genetic engineered seed are made and planted everyday in agriculture. Monsanto has made a fortune by doing this. The only agricultural crops I am familiar with that is transplanted is tobacco and a few types of vegetables, and if we had a longer warm season we wouldn't have to do that. Even still, it is still usually started from seed.

The nursery business is a different story. Everything is transplanted and just about everything is vegetatively propagated; be it by cuttings, grafting, budding or micro propagation. If that industry was large enough I'm sure someone would then bioengineer what they could as well,but it's not. It's up to the nurseryman to keep his plant true to type if he wants it to sell and when he propagates it's usually not through micropropagation. His individual product sells for more than a Ginseng root which makes it feasible. It's hard to think of anything you eat or come into contact with daily that is \"micro\" propagated. \"Vegetatively\" propagated, yes, but not much of that.

I have rode a many tobacco setters in my childhood which planted 18\" spacings in rows a little under 4' wide. You have to really pay attention to keep up or you would miss some. In fact, as a very young boy my job was to follow the setter and peg by hand what was missed. I would like to see the men that could feed a setter planting ginseng at 5-8 per foot in 5 foot wide beds. Even if it could be transplanted on a large scale at that point it would be cultivated and not wild simulated.

As far as doing it by hand, at a very early point the cost benefit ratio of labor doesn't work. If it's small scale or a hobby, sure. I also can't see why anyone would micropropagate planting stock for the ginseng hobby market and expect to make any money from it to amount to anything. People here have planted rootlets to get a jump on things and maybe to provide seed stock for themselves but you don't here them wanting to do it every year with intentions of seeing a profit from there efforts...they then plant seed. Don't get me wrong, micropropagation has it's place; I just don't think it's here.

I may be totally wrong and Im sure a lot smarter people exist in the world than me that could make it happen but that is the view from where I sit. K_duce, don't take me as trying to go against you on this, it's just again, my thoughts on the matter.

Whitjr,
See what you started! Deep down you was looking to get a debate going weren't you.
Hillhopper